Fishing is an activity that draws avid enthusiasts, many of whom can not seem to be satisfied in limiting their enjoyment to daylight hours. Oftentimes, their expeditions will take them well past sunset, to the point of complete darkness. Unless the fisherman has a light source, such as a lantern or flashlight, further fishing would be almost futile. Besides not being able to string a line or bait a hook, one could not detect the subtle movement of the line or rod tip which provides important visual cues to the fisherman to be able to catch fish. Also, without a flashlight, a fisherman who stays past dusk may have trouble negotiating his return from the water in darkness.
While the prior art shows many types of illuminated fishing rods, most are directed towards providing a luminous rod shaft or a light at the tip of the rod. The luminous rods cast diffuse light along the entire rod length which can attract insects to the proximity of the fisherman. The lights at the rod tip are often subdued in strength and merely provide a scant illumination. They tend to be ineffective for casting the type of light needed for finding one""s way along in the dark. Further, many of these types of rods have the illumination and/or power source in cumbersome locations on the rod which can cause the reel line to become entangled.
It would be desirable to provide a lighted fishing rod which could effectively address all situations arising from night fishing, including illuminating the area around the end of the rod so that both the fishing line and rod tip can be observed, maintaining the light at a spaced distance from the user to minimize insect annoyance, and providing a light source of sufficient luminosity so that the rod can serve as a flashlight.
By means of the instant invention there is provided a lighted fishing rod which provides a mounted light source in proximity to the rod tip for illuminating the rod tip and line, while having sufficient luminosity to effectively light a surrounding area to enable one to see one""s way in the dark. The power source for the light is located in the handle of the rod, with electrical connections passing within the hollow rod leading from the power source to the light source toward the end of the rod. Switch means are located on the exterior of the handle for turning on and off the light.
The above features are objects of this invention. Further objects will appear in the detailed description which follows and will be otherwise apparent to those skilled in the art.
For purpose of illustration of this invention a preferred embodiment is shown and described hereinbelow in the accompanying drawing. It is to be understood that this is for the purpose of example only and that the invention is not limited thereto.